Manufacturers from outside Tohoku are launching plants in the region, underpinning the reconstruction work following the damage left by the devastating 2011 earthquake and tsunami. “This year, reconstruction will become more evident in (tsunami-hit) coastal areas,” said Kazuhiro Morimoto, head of the Ministry of ...

Nippon Television Network Corp. reached a court-mediated settlement Thursday with a female college student who sued the broadcaster for rescinding an earlier offer for an announcer’s job because she had worked at a night club. In the suit filed with the Tokyo District Court, ...

The Abe administration will boost a program that encourages companies to hire former convicts, raising the number of such firms to 1,500 from the current level of around 500 by the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. The target, aimed at rehabilitating criminals and reducing the number ...

The government is considering a new subsidy program aimed at creating 60,000 jobs in rural areas, according to sources. Under the initiative, the government would provide subsidies to companies hiring people who moved from urban agglomerations to rural districts. The government would shoulder half ...

In the ongoing discussion about workplace abuse, the media has advanced yet another new term. “Black baito” modifies the already popular phrase “black kigyō,” which are companies that manipulate or ignore labor standards in order to get employees to work overtime without pay. “Baito” ...

Nearly 66 percent of all university students who graduated in spring had found full-time jobs as of May 1, the education ministry said in a report released Thursday. In addition, truancy climbed at elementary and junior high schools while elementary and junior high schools ...

Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ will allow most of its contract employees to work until 60, the retirement age set for its regular workers, in an effort to secure skilled personnel amid a shrinking workforce in Japan, a source familiar with the matter said on ...

Economic indicators have been sending mixed signals since the consumption tax hike to 8 percent from 5 percent in April, with consumer confidence and employment faring well and household spending and capital investment slumping. Although the government and some private-sector economists remain confident the ...